Introduction
Ritchie Lawrence McKay (born April 22, 1965) is an American basketball coach, currently the head coach of the Liberty University. McKay for the last 6 seasons had been the associate head coach at University of Virginia. He has previously been the head coach of the University of New Mexico, Oregon State, Colorado State, and Portland State.
Life and sports
McKay got his first head coaching job with Portland State. After a poor first year, McKay led the team to a third-place conference finish in his second season. He used that success as a springboard to his next coaching job, this time at Colorado State. He stayed two seasons there before heading to Oregon State, and then another two at Oregon State before accepting the head coaching position at New Mexico. While there, he experienced mixed success. In 2005, his team won the Mountain West Tournament and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. That successful season helped launch forward Danny Granger to an NBA career. Still, McKay couldn't turn New Mexico into a consistent program, and in February 2007, he was fired.
McKay then took a job at Liberty University, where he took the Flames to Big South semifinals in back-to-back years. His second-year, with the help of Seth Curry, McKay led the LU to a Division I school-record 23 wins and a bid to the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. After the season ended, Curry transferred to Duke University, and McKay's longtime friend Tony Bennett was hired as head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers. Bennett then asked McKay to join his staff as his associate head coach, and McKay accepted. On April 1, 2015, McKay was selected to return to Liberty University as head coach.
Personal life
High school: Westwood High, Mesa, Ariz.
College: Seattle Pacific
Family: Wife, Julie; daughter, Ellie; sons, Gabriel and Luke
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland State (Big Sky Conference) (1996–1998) | |||||||||
| 1996–97 | Portland State | 9–17 | 6–10 | 7th | |||||
| 1997–98 | Portland State | 15–12 | 10–6 | T–3rd | |||||
| Portland State: | 24–29 (.453) | 16–16 (.500) | |||||||
| Colorado State (Western Athletic Conference) (1998–1999) | |||||||||
| 1998–99 | Colorado State | 19–11 | 7–7 | T–4th (Mountain) | NIT Quarterfinals | ||||
| Colorado State (Mountain West Conference) (1999–2000) | |||||||||
| 1999–00 | Colorado State | 18–12 | 8–6 | T–4th | |||||
| Colorado State: | 37–23 (.617) | 15–13 (.536) | |||||||
| Oregon State (Pacific-10 Conference) (2000–2002) | |||||||||
| 2000–01 | Oregon State | 10–20 | 4–14 | T–9th | |||||
| 2001–02 | Oregon State | 12–17 | 4–14 | 9th | |||||
| Oregon State: | 22–37 (.373) | 8–28 (.222) | |||||||
| New Mexico (Mountain West Conference) (2002–2007) | |||||||||
| 2002–03 | New Mexico | 10–18 | 4–10 | 7th | |||||
| 2003–04 | New Mexico | 14–14 | 5–9 | T–5th | |||||
| 2004–05 | New Mexico | 26–7 | 10–4 | 2nd | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 2005–06 | New Mexico | 17–13 | 8–8 | 5th | |||||
| 2006–07 | New Mexico | 15–17 | 4–12 | T–8th | |||||
| New Mexico: | 82–69 (.543) | 31–43 (.419) | |||||||
| Liberty (Big South Conference) (2007–2009) | |||||||||
| 2007–08 | Liberty | 16–16 | 7–7 | 4th | |||||
| 2008–09 | Liberty | 23–12 | 12–6 | 3rd | CIT Quarterfinals | ||||
| Liberty (Big South Conference) (2015–Present) | |||||||||
| 2015–16 | Liberty | 13–19 | 10–8 | T–5th | |||||
| 2016–17 | Liberty | 0–0 | 0–0 | ||||||
| Liberty: | 52–47 (.525) | 29–21 (.580) | |||||||
| Total: | 217–205 (.514) | ||||||||
| National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||